There is something so pathetic and yet effortlessly relatable about Xander in “The Replacement”,
starting with the hotplate the cat peed on and his mother not respecting privacy boundaries
to the different Xander halves finding each other so funny. I say that, realizing just
how much heat Xander takes in the fandom, often reasonably so. But in most of the episodes
where he is centrally featured I find his trials, easy to empathize with. From his crisis
of masculinity in “The Zeppo” “Is this a penis metaphor?”
YEP. That was definitely one of them. To his case of extreme self-doubt that Spike
triggered so easily in “The Yoko Factor” “I think maybe they’re right.
In fact, it’s possible that my case of over-identification is the trigger for my own sense of frustration
with him when he commits frustrating and often unaddressed (more so than any other character)
errors in judgement or impulse.
But, with “The Replacement” at least, I am firmly in his camp. Curiously, between
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “The Zeppo” it seems like Xander gets
some of the more whimsical and charming, character-SPECIFIC episodes in the series. And, after watching
“The Replacement” I went and looked something up. Jane Espenson wrote Band Candy, Earshot,
Pangs, A New Man, Superstar, The Replacement, and has a couple more great episodes to come.
That might be a list of greatest hits second only to Joss himself. And most of them have
a similar sort of magical flight of fancy to them.
Riley and Buffy are doing Xander a solid with some hang in his “slightly awkward” living
situation. The two of them both politely ignoring said ‘awkward’ and taking everything in
stride is just meltingly heart warming. X: I do have spaghettio's. Set em on type
of the dryer and you're set for lukewarm goodness. R: I had dryer food for lunch.
Buffy seems distracted with her newfound commitments and Riley decides to help her relax. Xander
attempts to emulate with Xander-like results. “OW…”
Buffy criticizes the onscreen -Fu, highlighting a phenomena I’ve always found kind of fascinating:
being a specialist of something and seeing it done poorly in a show or movie. My Dad,
a classical pianist, first brought this up when we saw Groundhog Day and said he was
taken completely out of the dance scene because he could tell by Bill Murray’s hands he
wasn’t actually playing the piano. It wasn’t until I got older and got into tech and games
that I knew exactly what he was talking about. 40 year old virgin
Controllers HACK THE PLANET
B: Willow's the same way when we watch a movie about witches right Xander?
X: What? Oh yeah. She's all like...what's THAT? A cauldron? Who uses a cauldron anymore?
That is...just a...terrific comedic beat. And I love the blacklight demon design, simple
though it may be. The next day the gang checks out a possible
apartment for Xander. He awkwardly tries to duck around the topic of money but Anya lacks
the same sort of social decorum and airs some laundry.
“My arm really hurts and I’m tired. And I don’t really feel like taking a tour of
beautiful things that I can’t have. Demon McBlacklight stops in on Giles and gives
him a good left cross. *pause
Now...I know we’re all wondering when the Giles Knockout counter is coming back and,
when it does, I owe you a couple I missed. But I technically count this instance, like
the one in the Wish, as a knock DOWN not a knock out. Giles isn’t gonna wake up in
a coma from this one. He even makes the distinction himself in the following scene.
“Well I’m not dead or unconscious say bravo for me.”
Based on McBlacklight’s o·dif·er·ous-ness the gang tracks the demon to the city dump.
“People say they’re recycling. They’re not recycling.”
Riley was always intended to be a Steve Rogers but that has to be THE most Captain America’n
line he’s ever uttered. The demon attacks and Xander takes a shot
in the chest from his weapon. “Is this a penis metaphor?”
I don’t think so. Sometimes a boom stick is just a boom stick.
As the gang helps him up the camera hangs for a moment before revealing that Xander...is
still there…Dumpster Xander wakes up the next day in the garbage heap and goes home
to see himself getting ready through the window. Oh La La. Word is that Nicholas Brendan was
keeping a little more fit than the writers had envisioned for Xander. Most of the time
his clothes are big and baggy throughout the series. Fitting then that the idealized half
of himself was allowed to be topless and fit.
As Buffy is prepping to go out hunting she and Riley share a nice romantic moment.
Dawnie barfing noises I mean...COME ON right? #weareDawn?
At the very least this moment feels perfectly sibling to me. And I love how Riley snickers
at: “My friend Sharon's older brother knows a girl who died because she choked on her
boyfriend's tongue.” Man...who AM I this season? The girls grab
Joyce as she happens by and tries to get her to resolve the argument: “My daughters are
giving me a HEADACHE.” In his crypt Spike is making himself a garbage
chic artificial dummy woman that he seems curiously attracted to...
“Very posh.” Who he immediately kicks and across the room
and pretends is the Slayer “Oh Slayer. One of these days.”
Meanwhile dumpster Xander watches sexy Xander hypno-coin his boss into keeping him on his
construction job permanently. Sexy Xander takes his new money and gets the apartment
from the landlady, who hits on him. Dumpster Xander attacks and sexy Xander convinces the
Scoobs that the other one is evil. Dumpster Xander goes to one person who would
always know it’s him. 21:52 “Oh every Christmas we watch Charlie
Brown together and I do the Snoopy dance.” That one is an icon for sure.
Xander wonders at the one thing in his life that makes him feel like an adult.
“...Anya!” Sexy Xander is at the apartment when Dumpster
Xander breaks in. The gang figures out Demon McBlacklight was actually trying to split
BUFFY into two parts, one with the powerful Slayer bits and the other with the squishy
human bits. “Why do it? The Slayer half would be like
Slayer concentrate. Pretty unkillable.” But, with both of them being a necessary part
of Buffy, Blacklight could then kill the squishy bit, annihilating the whole.
Buffy stops Xander from killing...himself, takes down Blacklight, and after some terrific
thirsty Anya dialogue Willow gets the Xand back together again with the most anticlimactic
spell in history. “Let the spell be ended.” Not even a clap
And the episode ends with...Xander and Riley having...uhh...a bit of a complicated moment…
“Buffy’s like nobody else in the world…but she doesn’t love me.”
Wow. Back to that one in a second.
What a joy this episode is. My first time through I kept wondering how the hell they
pulled off the twin special effect so well. “How would you handle it if you had an evil
twin?” - “I handled it fine.:” The last time the show visited this trope
was in Doppelgangland and the use of the green screen composite there was pretty evident.
As it happens, Nicholas Brendon actually has an identical twin brother who was used for
all the double shots. The evil twin trope is always a ton of fun
and has been around forever. From bizzaro Superman to Daredevil to Dopplegangland. There
is an episode of Star Trek the original series called “The Enemy Within”. in which, quoting
wikipedia, a transporter malfunction causes Captain Kirk to be split into two beings,
one "good," but weak and ineffectual; the other "evil," but strong and decisive. But
the fact that neither Xander is actually evil makes “The Replacement” a fun subversion
of the trope while still using the idea to explore questions about the push and pull
of inner identity. And there is a lot here that I can personally
identify with. From his living situation that he knows even his friends hate spending time
in to some internal sense that whatever “adult” really means, he has yet to make it there.
“This demons taking my life and everyone’s treating him like a grown up.”
Xander proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is his own worst enemy.
“What? Why isn’t he firing me.” Whatever external forces may have brought
him to this moment, the one holding him back in personal growth and his relationships is
his actually OWN assuredness of his pathetic nature.
“I never help. I just get in trouble and Buffy rescues me.”
Conversely, when he’s stripped of his own self-doubt suddenly his career and love life
take major steps forward. As with the things Spike said to him in “The Yoko Factor”,
in the first scene at the apartment, Anya’s cutting nature validates the terrible things
he already fears about himself are true. “Because I think maybe they’re right.”
But Sexy Xander can actually hear what she’s saying without making it mean anything about
himself. And by actually being able to listen to her, affords Anya maybe her most important
character building moment in the series so far.
“I’m dying...I may have as few as 50 years left.”
As a former immortal, she has a paralyzing fear of her own mortality. And with her injured
arm and the days just rolling past she is anxious to do as much living as possible.
Under normal circumstances, Anya’s anxiety might’ve triggered Xander’s but with all
of his neuroses split away, sexy Xander is capable of just being there for her in the
way that she needs. “Maybe it’s finally hitting you what being
human means…” This is SUCH an important moment in their
relationship and it’s not insignificant that ALL of it occurs with only 50 percent
of Xander present. “You can’t make it any different. I’m
going to get old. And you can’t promise to be with me...:”
Of course, since nearly every story in the series relates directly or metaphorically
to Buffy herself I think we can interpret the episode through a broader lens. McBlacklight’s
attack was, after all, meant for Buffy. Although Dumpster Xander may have been more insecure
and vulnerable, as Buffy's metaphorical heart and strength the show is trying to say that
vulnerability is paradoxically, a necessary component to a strong and complete human being.
And certainly a necessary component to Buffy. Of course Being able to accept all parts of
herself has been the continual struggle of Buffy’s throughout the series. And, in the
car with Riley, Buffy wonders if he wouldn’t be better off with a non-Slayer-fied Buffy.
I think his response to her is touching. “You have been pretty rankly about the whole
Slayer gig. Instead of having Slayer Buffy you could have Buffy Buffy.”
“I have Buffy Buffy. Being the Slayer is part of who you are.”
Though, admittedly, the episode opening with Riley telling Buffy to get off Slayer duty,
is something of a contradiction to the way he sees her in the car. The hanging silence
that follows after he says he loves her and she doesn’t say it back is then that much
more of an ache. And I love the way that Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the scene, as though
the thought of responding hadn’t even occurred to her. But Riley notices the silence and
that may have been the primary influence that led to his confession to Xander at the end
of the episode.
“But she doesn’t love me.” Man, this is a powerful moment. Riley’s
most memorable for me. And the first time I watched the series I more or less interpreted
Riley picking Xander for this confession as a coincidence of circumstances. Xander just
happened to be the one standing there. But, in running through the series for the guide
I’ve noticed a number of curious connections between Xander and Biley or...Xander and...Ruffy?
I like Ruffy. First of all, Xander has always had a thing
for Buffy. Which manifested all the way back in Season 1 though some intense jealousy over
Angel, that both Angelus and Angel noticed Angel: You're in love with her.
Xander: Aren't you? (1x12) “That guys just bugs me.”
It all culminated with his inability to handle Buffy’s rejection in “Prophecy Girl.”
“K...well I guess a guys gotta be undead to...make time with ya.”
“You’re under the thrall of the Dark Prince.” There’s never a clear moment after that
when his crush on Buffy seems to go away. Quite the opposite: it’s referenced several
more times. Xander starts to date Buffy’s first metaphorical shadow self, Cordelia.
In “Phases” as he’s comforting Buffy over Angelus’ actions there is a long awkward
moment between them that he even comments on. And in Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered
when Buffy asks, “Why Cordelia?” Xander answers with some grace:
“Because the person I’m actually interested in dating is...unavailable.”
In Season 3 Xander has a thing for Faith early on Buffy’s NEXT metaphorical shadow self,
a thing so obvious that even Cordy calls him out for having a Slayer fixation.
Cordelia: What is it with you and Slayers? Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake
to your throat. Xander: Please, God, don't let that be sarcasm.
(takes her arm and smiles)
After Cordelia ceases to be Buffy’s shadow self in “Homecoming”, her relationship
with Xander ends in “Lovers Walk” and Xander then loses his virginity to Faith in
“The Zeppo” (someone who also wielded undue influence on Buffy and Riley later on.)
And, in Season 4’s “Restless”, the Buffy of Xander’s dream uses a word that seems
to stun him:
“Brother.” - “Brother?”
Anya striking up a relationship with him in Season 4 meant that Xander’s crush mostly
went unmentioned that season, but the word brother can only sting because the crush is
still in place. Taking all of that into account, it’s not unreasonable to think that maybe
Xander feels a connection to Buffy’s first home grown fully human long-term boyfriend,
Riley. But there are actually a number of significant
moments that tie the three of them together. Xander was the one who first revealed the
full weight of Buffy’s history with Angel to Riley in “The Yoko Factor”, setting
off a very Xander-like fit of Bangel jealousy on Riley’s part - if with a bit more muscle
and punchiness. That episode featured another moment where Riley told Buffy he loved her
and she didn’t say it back. In “Real Me”, these three were arguing
over Dawn, and Xander defended her by bringing up Buffy’s Mom inviting in the Master
“...bater.”
The very mention of his eminent spookiness puts Buffy at a loss for words and Dracula’s
interactions with Buffy are unspoken but clearly still ever present for Riley and Buffy.
Then there was the beginning of this episode where Xander tried to copy Riley’s boyfriend-ness-ness.
And Riley noticed. Broadly, Xander and Riley actually have a fair amount in common. Both
have major parental issues. Both have a military connection. Riley is now adrift and jobless
without the The Initiative - Xander has been feeling aimless since high school ended. Without
the Initiative, the only thing really of value in Riley’s life is Buffy and when Willow
asked Xander for the one thing of value in his life Xander realizes…
“Anya!”
Taking all of that into account, as weird as it may be, Riley confiding in Xander at
the end of this episode seems pretty organically come to over the five seasons. Now, before
anyone jumps on me for this let me be clear, I’m neither trying to endorse or to validate
any particular character’s perspective in this video. Simply pointing out connections
that may indicate why those perspectives exist. But I may have more to say about this in the
coming episodes.
The Replacement is terrific. My ONLY real gripe with it is the way in which the hypno-coin
red herring is used. These scenes don’t really make sense once you know the truth
of the situation. Unlike “The Zeppo” where most of the scenes are dramatically or comically
inflated because we’re inside Xander’s perspective for the duration, “The Replacement”
has a much more straightforward and even tone. And the argument for perspective falls flat
as, in the second hypno-coin scene Dumpster Xander can’t see what’s going on in the
apartment so the ONLY one’s being fooled by that scene are the audience. And given
we’re not seeing a filtered Xander perspective and the hypno coin isn’t actually a hypno
coin, the fact that THIS dude doesn’t say, "HARRIS. Stop shining that damn coin in my
eyes," just doesn’t feel REAL. I HATE audience cheats. Also, is all the finger twiddling
supposed to be some kind of handsome guy affectation?
I'm a confortador
It’s a quibble in an otherwise terrific episode, third in a row to open Season 5 that
I really enjoy.This season ...MAY collectively be the most tightly scripted, quality consistent,
and emotionally impactful seasons of the show. There are various seasons that do each one
of those things a little bit better than season 5, I would say that Season 3 is a little more
consistent quality-wise but doesn’t have the same emotional peaks and Season 2 might
yank at the heart strings a little bit harder but doesn’t have the same episode to episode
consistency. I wonder if, after numerous outside influences caused so much upheaval to the
arc in Season 4, the writers came into Season 5 with a redoubled commitment to getting things
right out of the gate as, between “Buffy vs Dracula”, “Real Me”, and “The Replacement”
most of the major themes of the season have already been laid out for us, along with some
serious foreshadowing of this season’s major events.
Though, I guess with this video I have yet to touch on the most important question the
episode raises. Which is….I mean...if you...had a clone of yourself...and...they were down...I
mean...WOULD you...you know. You know?
Yeah. I probably would.